[My Journey] Scaling a travel blog to $5K per month in 18 months
- Thread starter canellle
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I use lifeofdiscipline.com and I embed the widget into my notion, really cool feature.
I am really happy because my two main goals of the year was to change my body and create a side hustle and if you take a closer look I have spent the exact same amount of time doing both of them, I guess tracking this stuff really gives you a motivation boost
Honestly I didn't end up filming anything in horizontal during my trip, just vertical videos for a future Tiktok/Instagram. I still try to embed youtube videos in almost every post I have tho, I really think it helps with Google
Thanks! I started in May and went on a month trip from June 16 to July 17th so it was almost two months of doing nothing, I hope I can scale up a little more on August.
blogmen
Elite Member
- May 16, 2021
- 1,919
- 2,333
I had this problem. Make a process that involves templating and breaking down the article creation into steps.
For example, when you're on the plane/train you can take notes, make a list of article titles, keywords, create outlines for articles and bullet points.
Then you can write the paragraphs for each outline item separately when you have time. So you don't require a 1-2 hours window to write an entire article from scratch.
jonathan101
Banned for blackmailing clients
- Feb 13, 2016
- 2,468
- 710
Good luck on your jouney mate. Wishing you the best.
Kikerinka
Elite Member
- Dec 18, 2010
- 2,575
- 9,358
Not too bad of a result with 9 articles and almost no work for two months. Maybe you're into something with your KW research here. Try to give this website a serious shot for a few months. I guess summer is the high season, so if you work hard until December, the articles will have some time to age and then you can reap the rewards of your work next season. Maybe not $5K/month, but some nice number for sure
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bottingisfine
Power Member
- Apr 13, 2022
- 592
- 222
how are you planning to monetize? whats yous main affiliate program?
Right now my biggest bet is ads. I want to focus on affiliate programs too because I know that's where the money is but I don't feel confident targeting buyer intent keywords yet.
I want to start earning some money so I can invest it on freelance writers and focus my time on digital pr campaigns to gain some links (I come from a pr background so I feel kind of confident with this)
Yeah, I thought about seasonality too. Right now I am covering a lot of summer destinations because that's where I travel the most but I think I should find a way to squeeze in some winter destinations as soon as possible otherwise I could see a traffic decline by January.Not too bad of a result with 9 articles and almost no work for two months. Maybe you're into something with your KW research here. Try to give this website a serious shot for a few months. I guess summer is the high season, so if you work hard until December, the articles will have some time to age and then you can reap the rewards of your work next season. Maybe not $5K/month, but some nice number for sure
I am really trying to give it a serious shoot but to be honest a full-time job and maintaining basic social life makes it difficult. I am happy because I am working on the site at least 4 days a week but I am realistic and I know I need to start devoting more time.
Thanks for the motivation!
Kikerinka
Elite Member
- Dec 18, 2010
- 2,575
- 9,358
There is some seasonality in every niche, and it isn't necessarily a bad thing. Just think about it in this way: Having a site that earns $1K/month consistently over the entire year isn't really different to having a site that earns $1,800 for 6 moths of a year, and than almost nothing $100-$200 for the rest. At the end, you still earned $12,000 annually.
If I was you, I'd simply continue focusing on destinations you know and realistically travel to
UPDATE #6 (QUICK ONE)
I don't have much time to share an update as detailed as I would like so I think I will keep that for the end of the month but just wanted to share two quick wins that took me 15' and skyrocketed my traffic. In the last 7 days, I managed to get an average of 88 pageviews per day and the number seems to be growing so I might end the month with 2,300 (last July had only 1,015).
Anyway, that's my quick recap in case someone in my position is following this and want to try it. I will tell you how it all worked out in a couple days.
Wish me luck! At this rhythm, I hope I can get into Monumetric by November - December
I don't have much time to share an update as detailed as I would like so I think I will keep that for the end of the month but just wanted to share two quick wins that took me 15' and skyrocketed my traffic. In the last 7 days, I managed to get an average of 88 pageviews per day and the number seems to be growing so I might end the month with 2,300 (last July had only 1,015).
- I won two featured snippets by switching paragraph positions in the article. This is something that I have been reading on twitter and hearing on podcasts and decided to try: in one case I basically moved a question that was on the FAQ section at the bottom of the page to the first 4 paragraphs of my article and got almost instantly the snippet and in the other one I took the average word count of the snippet that was winning at the moment, wrote something similar in length and put it on bold at the top of my article.
- Kept publishing my posts on Facebook and Tripadvisor: this is something that really takes me 5' minutes per article, every time I post a new article I try to squeeze a link on Tripadvisor or a Facebook group (it has to make sense so you are not being spammy). A lot of people will tell you not to focus on social media when you are starting (and I get the point, they are mostly right) but, while I can't prove it 100%, I am really sure that the little boost in visitors on the first few days that my post is live is telling Google that he has to watch out for my article because people are finding it useful.
Anyway, that's my quick recap in case someone in my position is following this and want to try it. I will tell you how it all worked out in a couple days.
Wish me luck! At this rhythm, I hope I can get into Monumetric by November - December
NancyShah
Registered Member
- Jan 15, 2023
- 58
- 20
Believe in yourself, You've got this.
UPDATE #7 - August report
Hey folks!
August is over and I am really happy with the outcomes of this month so here is a new update on my case study
WHAT HAPPENED IN AUGUST
The most important thing that happened to me this month is that I EARNED MY FIRST $10!!!!!!!!!!! It is not much but at least it covers the hosting expenses. All the money was earned from the Tripadvisor affiliate program, I think that the key to succeeding in affiliate marketing is matching the search intent of my posts with the right affiliate program so I decided to go with Tripadvisor as all of my posts (except a new one) aren't targeting buyer intent keywords so it didn't make sense to use a program with a 24hs cookie duration as Booking.
Regarding content, this was my first whole month working on the site back from my month-long holiday so I tried to publish as many posts as possible. Sadly I only managed to create new 6 posts which is not bad but not great for the goals that I have so let's see if I can scale it a little bit in the upcoming months. As I mentioned in other updates, I am dividing my site in a way that each destination is a cluster. I was focusing on Destination 1 (aka cluster 1) with +10 posts until this month when I started to create content around Destionation 2, a rising destination that I have visited this year. Most of my traffic still comes from posts on cluster 1 but I do belive that next summer cluster 2 will have a huge boost and I want to be ready for that.
Another amazing thing that happened this month is that I got my first 3 backlinks from HARO. I basically answered one question at the end of july and stopped reading the requests because it felt like a waste of time but last week, aka almost a month later, I realized that the post was published with a link to me and it was syndicated between different DR 40-70 sites.
Sadly, all of the HARO links were no follow but I least I had the confidence boost of knowing that I can make it.
REFLECTIONS AND UPCOMING THINGS
Not sure if I have anything to add but love to hear your thoughts/advice/ideas, I try to implement all the feedback (at least the one that sounds realistic) that I get from here so I really appreciate any input
Hey folks!
August is over and I am really happy with the outcomes of this month so here is a new update on my case study
WHAT HAPPENED IN AUGUST
The most important thing that happened to me this month is that I EARNED MY FIRST $10!!!!!!!!!!! It is not much but at least it covers the hosting expenses. All the money was earned from the Tripadvisor affiliate program, I think that the key to succeeding in affiliate marketing is matching the search intent of my posts with the right affiliate program so I decided to go with Tripadvisor as all of my posts (except a new one) aren't targeting buyer intent keywords so it didn't make sense to use a program with a 24hs cookie duration as Booking.
Regarding content, this was my first whole month working on the site back from my month-long holiday so I tried to publish as many posts as possible. Sadly I only managed to create new 6 posts which is not bad but not great for the goals that I have so let's see if I can scale it a little bit in the upcoming months. As I mentioned in other updates, I am dividing my site in a way that each destination is a cluster. I was focusing on Destination 1 (aka cluster 1) with +10 posts until this month when I started to create content around Destionation 2, a rising destination that I have visited this year. Most of my traffic still comes from posts on cluster 1 but I do belive that next summer cluster 2 will have a huge boost and I want to be ready for that.
Another amazing thing that happened this month is that I got my first 3 backlinks from HARO. I basically answered one question at the end of july and stopped reading the requests because it felt like a waste of time but last week, aka almost a month later, I realized that the post was published with a link to me and it was syndicated between different DR 40-70 sites.
Sadly, all of the HARO links were no follow but I least I had the confidence boost of knowing that I can make it.
REFLECTIONS AND UPCOMING THINGS
- As I write this I am in Mexico for a work trip followed by a fun trip to Tulum so I don't expect to post too much on September. However I am trying to do a little keyword research on Tulum before I arrive so I can have planned content and take pictures that will be helpful for the upcoming roadmap.
- Traffic almost triplicated this month which is insane for me, if I keep growing like this I will be able to monetize with Monumetric by December and reach Mediavine by May. On paper this sounds great but I know I need to focus on scaling my writing if I want to make it
- 99.999% of my posts reach number one page in less than a week of being posted. I think that the key takeaway here is GO FOR KEYWORDS THAT YOU CAN ACTUALLY RANK AND FORGET ABOUT KEYWORD VOLUME. My highest traffic post got 600 pageviews last month and it was actually a 10 volume keyword that I targeted because nobody else was doing that so it was an easy win
- Speaking of keywords that I can rank, I need to get serious with backlink building otherwise I will be stuck forever on writing thousands of posts in order to reach my traffic goals. I come from a PR background and done it thousands of time in my country but there is something about trying it with english speaking journalists that just get me nervous, I will use october as a deadline to do something.
- Something that also keep me away from actively seeking for links was that my site didn't look proffessional enough but this month a friend of mine who works as a graphic designer for great brands designed me a new logo and I edite GP theme to fit it. While I still don't think that my site looks 100% put together I know have more faith that people will take it more seriously
Not sure if I have anything to add but love to hear your thoughts/advice/ideas, I try to implement all the feedback (at least the one that sounds realistic) that I get from here so I really appreciate any input
Thanks! So far I am really happy with these outcomes, it is nothing compared to what we see here but these little commissions and the traffic escalating are motivating enough to keep grinding
OtisTaylor
Registered Member
- Dec 24, 2022
- 89
- 22
Inspiring! Keep up the good work mate
I am not an expert at all but what I can say is that in 90% of the cases I see where people can't rank despite having a lot of content most of the time the problem is that they target keywords they can't rank with their content/domain authority.
If I where you I would start checking the posts that you have at the bottom of page 1 or top of page 2 and improve those (watch some videos about on page SEO and see what your posts are missing) and then I would start looking for keywords that no one has written about before, doesn't matter if the search volume is 10 or 1000.
Can't tell you much without knowing your site but I think that should be a good start